De Kooning's US$12.95 million Untitled carries Sotheby's London evening sale
A Willem de Kooning painting sold for US$12.95 million in London and carried Sotheby's contemporary evening sale to US$61.1 million.
The Contemporary Evening Auction at Sotheby's in London, the auction house's headline sale for higher-priced lots, totalled £45.95 million on 15 October 2026. That result sat inside the pre-sale estimate range of US$55.21 million to US$77.65 million published before the sale HENI News. The dollar figure of US$61.1 million was reported as the night's tally ARTnews.
It finished in range.
The two totals describe the same night in different currencies. London sales are normally totalled in pounds. United States reports then convert that sum into dollars. Currency moves can shift the dollar figure even when the pound figure stays fixed.
Estimates, the low and high prices the house publishes before bidding starts, set public expectations for the room. A total inside that band means bidding landed broadly where the house said it should. A total below the low estimate would have signalled weak demand. A total above the high estimate would have signalled a rush.
The sale began at 19:00 on 15 October 2026 in London. Sotheby's listed the auction as part of The London Sales, a three-day round of sales and previews scheduled for 14-16 October Sotheby's.
The de Kooning led the night. Its Untitled, a work with no formal title from the artist, was the top lot, the term for the highest-priced work in a sale.
Ahead of the week, Sotheby's had placed works by Willem de Kooning, Gerhard Richter and David Hockney among 10 highlights to watch from the season. The preview list put the three artists at the centre of its pitch for the October round. For readers who do not follow auctions, that kind of preview is a simple guide. It tells casual bidders and viewers which names the house expects to draw attention.
The format itself is straightforward. An evening auction gathers a smaller group of higher-priced works in one session. The auctioneer moves lot by lot. Each result combines the bid with fees, and the house then adds those results into a sale total.
What makes this stand out for casual readers is the weight of one picture. One canvas accounted for about a fifth of the money spent all evening. Everything else followed behind it. When a single lot carries that share, the night turns on a few minutes of bidding.
